Investors' perspectives - Connecting mission and investment policy

In March 2007, a Dutch TV programme revealed that the Dutch Cancer Foundation had some of its capital invested in cigarette companies and that quite a few pension funds were invested in companies manufacturing landmines and cluster bombs. These revelations spurred a heated debate in many quarters, including the boardroom of Fund 1818, about where the funds of charitable institutions and pension funds should be invested. Click here to read ...

Symposium urges increase in ‘green’ investments

Despite the market turmoil, there is still over $500 billion in the endowments of US private foundations. In a time of constrained finances, it is important for foundations to leverage resources to achieve what they want to do rather than relying on grantmaking alone. Mission-related investing (MRI) is one way of doing this. This was the focus of a symposium organized by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in New York last November. Click here to read ...

SASIX offers new opportunities for South African investors

In response to the pressures faced by people and organizations in the developing world, SASIX, GreaterGood South Africa’s Social Investment Exchange, has created a new investment product that offers market-related financial returns on high-impact social development projects.

SASIX Financial is a joint venture of GreaterGood SA and Cadiz African Harvest Asset Management (CAHAM), which is a Financial Services Board approved and regulated financial services provider. At present, the new socially responsible investment product will be offered only to institutional investors such as pension funds and financial advisers through CAHAM, with plans for a 'retail' offering through the SASIX website in future.  Click here to read ...

CAP to focus on uses of MRI and PRI for non-profit finances

A new body, the Center for Applied Philanthropy (CAP), has been launched under the auspices of The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI) in Boston with the aim of increasing the opportunities for NPOs to access funding for their programmes and working capital needs through programme and mission-related investments. CAP’s first initiative will be the launch of the Fund for Sustainability in conjunction with the Calvert Social Investment Foundation. The fund will specifically target working capital and programmatic needs among non-profits operating in the health and human services, arts and culture, environment and education sectors. It hopes to begin its initial round of funding during the first quarter of 2009. Click here to read ...

‘First loss’ programme to help NPOs obtain debt finance

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Social Capital Markets Conference

Event Social Capital Markets Conference
Date 13-15 October
Venue San Francisco, USA Click here to read ...

Trustee's column: Why is MCI so hard for some foundations?

Sevdalina Rukanova’s article in the September issue of Alliance describes some of the problems foundations encounter in approaching mission connected investing – MCI. The idea of an investment that ‘targets a market rate of return and also helps a foundation achieve its mission’[1] makes unarguable good sense, so why don’t more foundations snap up this win-win opportunity? I think there are four issues here. Click here to read ...

More effort needed on the supply side

In a recent article for the Guardian,[1] I suggested that if observers were to ‘peer beyond the wreckage of western financial systems’, they could ‘discern the outlines of the future’. I also suggested that the end of the period of ‘global capital markets’ and the ‘financial services revolution’ would usher in a new era of social business and social investment. Click here to read ...

Investors’ perspectives: New opportunities for social investing

The precipitous fall in markets worldwide and fears of a global recession have created the most challenging economic situation in a generation. But as investors look closely at their portfolios, social investments can fill a niche that was previously unfilled. Click here to read ...

Effect looks at impacts of financial crisis on foundations

The forthcoming issue of Effect magazine presents a series of articles looking at the issue of investment from different angles. The relevance of this theme could not be greater at a time when many foundations are facing major challenges with regard to their financial planning and asset management strategies, as endowment values have been adversely affected by the recent turmoil in global financial markets.

Published by the European Foundation Centre, Effect also includes a regular section that examines the role and significance of foundations in different parts of the continent. This time the focus will be on the Nordic countries.

For more information
www.efc.be/effect Click here to read ...